The Sexy Enemy: A Fake Relationship Romance (Italian Nights Series Book 3)

29. Alessandro

“Whatever happens tonight, it’s going to be okay,” Natalia says, trying to reassure me.

But it’s not. Either way, after tonight it’s going to be the end of the bubble we’ve been living in, the borrowed time the two of us have had. A Conti and Fiorenzo were never meant to last.

“Here we go,” I say, stepping out first into the flashing lights. I’m inundated by the paparazzi shouting things at me, and I try to ignore them, but it can be hard some nights, before holding out my hand for my beautiful wife. Natalia looks like a sixty’s bombshell dressed in a black shift dress with a white blouse underneath, her chocolate hair cascades down around her shoulders with a black headband and ruby red lips that already make me want them wrapped around my cock. Natalia reaches out to me and links our arms together, giving the photographers what they want as we pose a couple of times before she pulls us into the restaurant.

“Sometimes it’s easier to give them what they want then they will leave us alone. They will leave everyone alone,” she whispers to me.

“Don’t know how you deal with that, it’s annoying as hell,” I say, holding her closer to me, she just shrugs as the door girl greets us. When we give her our names, the ma?tre d comes over and escorts us to our table, where Elek is already waiting for us.

“Hope we haven’t kept you waiting too long?” I ask, knowing we are ten minutes early.

“No, all good. My meeting finished early so I thought I would have a couple of drinks before you joined me.” He grins as he shakes my hand and kisses Natalia’s cheeks. “Alessandro, your new wife is beautiful, you’re one lucky man,” he says, giving me an elbow nudge as he looks Natalia up and down. I give him a tight smile, and I can see she is doing the same.

“Sit, sit. I’ve asked my staff to bring a bottle of our best champagne to the table to celebrate tonight,” he says.

“Thanks,” I say as I take my seat.

He waves my gratitude away then leans forward as if he’s going to tell us a secret. “I had to see for myself. A Conti and Fiorenzo, married. It’s unbelievable. You two really kept that a secret.” He chuckles, shaking his head as he looks between the two of us.

“Didn’t want our family history to interfere with this deal. A deal I am very interested in finalizing,” I explain to him as I reach out and grab Natalia’s hand and kiss it ever so gently, showing off her ring to him.

Elek raises a brow at the gesture and the ring before he smirks. “Exactly what her brothers said earlier when we spoke,” he adds, looking over at Natalia. She doesn’t react at the mention of her brothers. Did she know? Is she setting me up? Fuck. I drop her hand, thankfully, she was able to recover in time for it to not be suspicious.

“My brothers were surprised by our relationship, too, but they love and support me and my decisions,” Natalia tells him.

Elek grins. “Yes, yes, they said the same thing,” he states as his attention is pulled by one of the young female wait staff walking past, his eyes zeroing in on her ass. “No talk of business tonight, we are here for a celebration. A celebration of love and forever,” Elek says happily.

Thankfully, a woman arrives with the bottle of champagne, breaking up the tension that has settled between Natalia and me.

“Sweetheart, there you are with our champagne, we’ve been dying of thirst sitting here, waiting,” he tells her harshly. The waitress’s cheeks flush bright pink at the owner telling her off. She pops the bottle with a shaky hand and starts pouring us each a glass. When she’s done, Elek pats her on the ass. “Good work,” he says, making her gasp before she scurries away.

Natalia turns to me with a frown on her face, the tension between us quickly forgotten. I give her a subtle nod that I agree with the what the hell is going on face she is giving me.

“Saluti, to the happy couple. Wishing you many happy years,” Elek says, raising his glass high in the air, and we do the same, clinking our glasses together.

We all take a sip.

I see Elek’s face light up and then feel a looming presence behind us.

“So glad you two could make it, now it’s a family celebration.”

I turn and am met with the steely gazes of Giorgio and Luca Fiorenzo.

“What are you doing here?” Natalia asks, sounding surprised as she gets up and hugs her brothers. I’m guessing she didn’t set up this little tête-à-tête then.

“Elek invited us earlier today when we met up,” Giorgio says as he greets his sister and then sneers as he shakes my hand.

“Come, sit.” Elek clicks his fingers, and someone is at our table pouring champagne for the Fiorenzo brothers. “I was just toasting to the happy couple,” Elek says, raising his glass toward us. Giorgio and Luca glare as they, too, raise their glasses. Elek shakes his head repeatedly. “Still can’t believe a Conti and a Fiorenzo are married. Your father must be so angry.” He chuckles.

“He wasn’t happy,” I answer through gritted teeth as I take another sip of my champagne.

“That would be an understatement.” Elek smirks. He’s known my father for many years. He understands the level of hatred he has against the Fiorenzo family.

“He was shocked, but he wants what’s best for me,” I reply, remaining neutral as Gio and Luca choke on their drinks at my comment.

“And you think Giuseppe Conti thinks Natalia Fiorenzo is what’s best for you?” Elek questions me. He bursts out laughing as Gio and Luca join him.

Natalia frowns as she stares at her brothers, offended by the comments.

This dinner is not going the way I planned. The deal is still not anywhere closer to a resolution. I don’t get what he is playing at tonight, messing with the two of us like he is. Does he get off on playing the two families against each other? Are we just here to stroke his over-inflated ego? The man is touching young women inappropriately at work, at his own restaurant. No wonder my father and him get on so well they are cut from the same cloth. And the way he leered at Natalia when she came in like she’s a prized object and not a human being, and then he insults her in front of her family and her brothers don’t seem to notice it either. I’ve had enough with this guy. We will get through dinner and then I might send someone else from the company to deal with him because I’m done.

“Natalia is an intelligent, hardworking, and beautiful woman. Why wouldn’t he want someone like that as my wife?” I tell him, trying to keep my temper in check.

“Yes, posing all day for selfies is such hard work, or so my daughter tells me when I ask her what she’s done all day.” He moans, rolling his eyes as he takes a sip of his champagne. “I will say, attending all those charity events, though, can be tiresome.” He chuckles, thinking his comments are funny, as Gio and Luca join him.

Natalia stiffens beside me, and I know she’s ready to rip him apart, but hesitates because she knows that whatever she says could jeopardize not only me—even though I don’t think she cares about hurting my chances in this deal—but she does care about hurting her own family’s chances. Which I don’t think she should care about ruining because her brothers are happy to let her be the butt of this man’s joke. All so they can win against me. I’ve had enough.

“Natalia raises a lot of money for well-deserving people, she makes a difference in the world, whereas I only make my father richer,” I snip.

Gio and Luca still and look between us. Elek’s eyes narrow on me, picking up the irritation in my voice. “Without our money, the ladies couldn’t change the world, it’s all symbiotic, isn’t it?” he says, smiling as if he’s said something profound.

“Natalia doesn’t need my money as a symbolic gesture. I’m pretty sure she’s worth more than me.”

Elek blanches at my comments.

“She’s a Fiorenzo after all,” Gio adds.

Elek clears his throat, not happy with the way this conversation is playing out, and decides to change the subject. “Giorgio, how is the wedding planning going?” he asks.

“Lots of moving parts, but it’s going well, from what I hear,” he answers.

“You could always elope like your sister,” Elek teases.

“Think my mother would kill me.” Giorgio grimaces as he looks over at his sister. I notice Natalia’s cheeks are flushed with embarrassment as she sits there uncomfortably.

“Yes, yes, Italian mothers and their sons.” Elek chuckles. “And, Luca, how is your beautiful wife going with baby number two?”

“We are very excited, as is Leo, he can’t wait to be a big brother,” Luca says proudly.

“Children are a blessing,” Elek says before turning his attention to Natalia and me. “When do you think the two of you will have children?” he asks. Natalia chokes on her champagne and her brothers grimace at his question.

“Not sure, it’s up to my wife, but practicing sure is fun.” The table falls silent at my words, and two very pissed-off brothers glare at me as I place my arm around Natalia’s shoulders along her chair, and she stiffens.

Elek bursts out laughing at my comment, completely aware of the tension swirling around the table as if he can’t believe his plan is working. “Your brother-in-law is a hoot,” Elek says.

“Yeah, we had no idea he could be so funny,” Giorgio says through gritted teeth.

“Everything on the menu looks fantastic, Elek. Not sure where to start, I’m starving,” Natalia says, changing the subject.

“I’m surprised you have an appetite, Natalia. You must work hard in the gym to keep your figure the way it is,” Elek adds, eyeing my wife up and down.

I want to rip out his fucking eyeballs, as do her brothers as they stare in disbelief at Elek, not believing he just said that about their sister.

“The things we women have to go through.” She smiles sweetly at the old man before pulling up the menu in front of her. The oversized leather menu is big enough to cover her face from him as she turns and makes faces of disgust at me. I nod, the guy is a dick. Have I truly been blind to this man’s words all these months because of this deal?

“Sweetheart, do you think I should go with the lobster or the steak?” I ask.

She smirks behind her menu. “Order both and we can share,” she tells me, and when we put the menus down, we have three sets of eyes on us.

“This menu looks delicious. There are so many things I would love to taste on it. I know as soon as I order I’ll have regrets. Thankfully, Alessandro doesn’t mind me picking off his plate,” she says to the table. Gio and Luca stare at her, dumbfounded.

“Anytime you want to try more, give me a call, and I’d be only too happy to give you a taste,” Elek says, the innuendo as blatant as can be, before he leans in and stage whispers, “I’ll even let you pick off my plate.” He smirks.

I can see Natalia’s lip curl ever so slightly in disgust, and before I can launch myself across the table, we are saved by a different waitress who has been summoned over to take our orders.

When we have given her our requests, Natalia slides her chair back and stands up. “If you can excuse me for a moment, I might freshen up before dinner,” Natalia says as she excuses herself from the table and walks off.

“I will, too,” I say, pushing my chair back.

“No practicing in my bathrooms, you hear me,” Elek calls out, making me flinch as I disappear from the table. “Natalia, wait,” I call out to her, but she ignores me as she makes her way through the busy dining room. I can see all eyes are on the two of us along the way, and hear the murmurs as we pass people’s tables.

When I turn the corner where the bathrooms are, I run into an angry Natalia.

“That man is a fucking pig,” she says, poking me in the chest.

“He is,” I say, agreeing with her.

“How can you sit there and smile and laugh at his misogynistic jokes? Is this the kind of people you do business with?” she questions me.

I bristle at her attack. “Me? I’m the only one defending you. Don’t forget I’m fighting with your brothers for this deal. They are the ones happily sitting there listening to that man’s fucked-up words.” Natalia glares at me, she knows I’m right. “Was this your plan all along, to have them come and mess up my chances tonight?”

Her face falls as she stares at me. “I didn’t know they would be here. They never told me.” I want to believe her but how can I? Our families are at war. She reaches out and touches my arm. “Seriously, I didn’t know, but I did have a plan to try and mess up your chances. I feel horrible about thinking like that, but I just thought it was my only chance. Like you always say, what happens in the bedroom doesn’t affect what happens outside regarding business.”

I try to calm my anger at her thinking about sabotaging the dinner because I did say those words to her. “What were you going to do?” I ask.

“My plan was to pretend to be a bimbo, but as soon as I met that man, there was no way in the world that was going to work because he already thought me one. Did you see him touch that waitress? That is not right.”

I shake my head. “It’s not. I agree. Let’s go back to the table, I can pretend I’m not feeling well, and we can leave,” I tell her.

Natalia frowns at me. “Tonight is important to you.”

“It is, but if I’m honest, I’m sick of dealing with all that out there.”

“You mean Elek?” she asks. I nod. “He’s a dick.”

“He is. Usually, I’m able to block out his bullshit, but tonight my tolerance isn’t very high,” I tell her.

“My brothers being there doesn’t make it any better either.” She sighs. “You don’t have to leave on my accord. I’ve dealt with plenty of Elek’s before, I can grin and bear it for one night.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” I say.

Her brows pull together as she stares up at me. “Thanks, but I can for you.” And I can hear the sincerity in her voice.

I grab her face and kiss her. “Come on, let’s go back and get the hell out of here. I want to see what those red lips can do wrapped around my cock,” I tell her.

Natalia’s cheeks flush at my words. “Why wait? There’s a bathroom right behind us, I could drop to my knees and help you relax a little.” She grins, giving me the exact same threats.

“Christ, woman, my dick is hard now. How the hell am I able to go back to that table?”

“Think of Elek Papps naked.”

“Ew, I feel sick.” I cringe, which makes her laugh. “It worked, let’s go.”

We head back from the bathrooms as a united front. Her brothers glare at me upon our return, thank goodness my dick isn’t tenting my pants like it wanted to do moments ago.

“I’m sorry, guys, I’m not feeling very well. That’s what I get for eating stuff from the craft table at my photo shoot today,” Natalia says, rubbing her flat stomach for dramatics before I even have a chance to fake being sick.

“Are you okay?” Luca asks his sister.

“Oh, my dear, that’s a shame. I was looking forward to getting to know you,” Elek says.

“Another day,” I say, smiling at him. When pigs fly.

“Yes, that sounds lovely.” Elek grins.

“I’m going to take Natalia home and make sure she’s okay,” I tell them.

“Maybe you should head to Mamma’s instead, she’ll know how to look after you, Nat,” Giorgio suggests to his sister as his eyes narrow on me.

“I know how to look after my wife,” I tell Giorgio.

Natalia reaches out for me and squeezes my arm, letting me know she’s got this. Before Gio can argue further, she says, “I’ll be seeing her tomorrow for the charity lunch. If I still feel unwell, I’ll go home with her then.”

Her brother seems surprised but drops it. I place a hand on her back and say our goodbyes, then escort her out of the restaurant.